Ruth Gibson

The Bronze Key: Performing Data Encryption

The Bronze Key art installation is the result of performative re-materializations of bodily data. This collaborative experiment in data encryption expands research into practices of archiving and critical discourses around open data. It integrates bodily movement, motion capture and Virtual Reality (VR) with a critical awareness of data trails and data protection. A symmetric cryptosystem was enacted producing a post-digital cipher system, along with archival artefacts of the encryption process. Material components for inclusion in the TEI Arts Track include: an audio file of text to speech of the raw motion capture data from the original movement sequence on cassette tape (The Plaintext), a 3D printed bronze shape produced from a motion captured gesture (The Encryption Key), and a printed book containing the scrambled motion capture data (The Ciphertext).